There isn't a lack of first-person shoot 'em-ups for the PC, but Far Cry looks like it could well be up there with the best of them. It's got a lot of competition of course, from the likes of Doom III and Half-Life 2, but Far Cry has got something they haven't: brains. Although the graphics in Far Cry are some of the best ever seen, with amazing island vistas that look straight out of Pirates of the Caribbean, the most impressive technical achievement is the artificial intelligence of its bad guys. Enemies in most games seem to have the attention span of a goldfish and rarely seem to be able to see or hear more than a foot in front of their faces. This is not the case in Far Cry, although when you've been chased by a gang of professional bounty hunters through a rusty World War II aircraft carrier and back again, you might begin to wish they were still deaf and dumb. For pretty much the first time Far Cry makes you feel as if you are fighting against a real foe, with real intelligence. And if that's not enough to impress there's the aforementioned amazing graphics, seven different vehicles to pilot (including a hand glider), tons of different weapons and really realistic looking bushes. That last may not sound that impressive, but the game's recreation of a real jungle environment is quite outstanding and the real icing on the cake of this top-notch shooter. --David Jenkins

Features:- Action shooter game set in South Pacific- Hugely detailed environments and action sequences- Cunning and complex AI tactics- Nonlinear gameplay- For one player